Saturday, November 24, 2007

Happy Half-Birthday and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving with Sebastian this past Thursday and we sure do have a lot to be thankful for! Sebastian is growing and changing so fast and it seems like every day he is doing something different. The other day he discovered a new sound he could make, and today he discovered how to blow bubbles (or more like spit) by pursing his lips. He's also learned that when we laugh that he likes to do it too :)

We hope you enjoy these pictures from the past couple of weeks!!

A couple weeks ago we had our first taste of winter weather for Florida. We went out for a walk one night after dinner and Sebastian was hamming it up in his stroller.

Last Saturday we went on to a corn maze near Zellwood with some friends. We left Sebastian with his Nana and Papa. We didn't think he was quite ready for 2 hours lost in a maze.

This picture may seem familiar. It's actually one that was taken the day we brought Sebastian home from the Hospital. Since he turned 6 months last week, we took another picture (below) to show how much he's grown.

Sebastian at 6 months.

Now this is a crazy story... About one month ago, we went out to dinner at a local restaurant. While we were there, I ran into a family that I've met a few times. The lady's daughter is my god-daughter Angelica's best friend in kindergarten. She told me that she was meeting some friends at dinner that have a baby about the same age as Sebastian so she would introduce us since we all live in the same area. I said, great! When we finish with dinner I go over and introduce myself and this is how the conversation went: (I promise, there is a reason to this long story!) OM is the Other Mom

CG - How old is your baby? OM - This is Owen and he's 5 months. CG - Wow, Sebastian is 5 months too! When was he born? OM - He was born on May 18. CG - No, way, Sebastian was born May 18! What hospital? OM - Florida Hospital CG - Oh my gosh (Paul walks up at this point) this is crazy.

Then it hit all of us - We saw you in the waiting room at the hospital waiting to be induced! The husband recognized each other too. It was crazy! Then it got even crazier.... We had spoken in the waiting room so we knew we had the same OB.

CG - Well, what time was Owen born? OM - Oh, I had a c-section, he was born around 1 am. CG - Sebastian was born around 2 am - you were the reason I had to wait to get him out! The nurses wouldn't let me push because my doctor was in a c-section! OM - This is too crazy, we had to trade contact information so we can get the boys together and get to know each other. (She writes her name, phone and e-mail on a coaster and hands it to me.) CG - I look at the coaster and then look back at her because believe it or not, the e-mail address looks very familiar. I had just started a group at church for moms and babies and moms had to e-mail me to get directions to my house for the meeting. So I ask her - do you go to St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church? Did you e-mail me about the Kolbe Baby Group? OM - Yes! Yes, yes! CG - Well, you are coming to my house this Tuesday!

So, that's the long version, but the gist is that it's crazy we ran into each other again and already we are becoming good friends. We've been going together to story time and then we went to the zoo the other day (pictures below). Julia and Owen also invited us to their home to celebrate the boy's 1/2 birthday last week. It was very cute to see them together!

Sebastian and Owen on their 1/2 birthday.

Once Sebastian turned 6 months we started giving him a bath in the 'Big Boy Tub'. I was pretty excited to get him out of that little bucket we were using, but the bathtub is definitely a challenge. We are still getting the hang of it.

Sebastian took his first trip to the Zoo last week with his friend Owen. As you can see he wasn't too enthused. I think he thought the whole thing was a little weird...

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving Nana watched Sebastian. This is him giving his newest "I'm so cute and I know it" smile during lunch.

Daddy and Sebastian playing.

The Giammarinaro/Reine Families

Tyler had such a great time with his little cousin on Thanksgiving!

He can't wait to get his hands on that Thanksgiving plate!! Sweet Potatoes, Peas and Mashed Potatoes. YUMMY!!

The day after Thanksgiving we continued our tradition of picking out our Christmas tree. It took us a little time to find the best place to get it, but it was well worth it!

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Food Time Fun!

Sebastian is really getting the hang of this eating thing. He is usually pretty calm and lets you feed him, but sometimes he really gets into it and he wants to drive the spoon himself. This makes it interesting - it's amazing how fast a 5 month old can move! The other day, he was eating in his big boy chair and he managed to swipe the full spoon away from Daddy and the big glob of sweet potatoes landed smack dab in the middle of his face. He thought the whole thing was hysterical! It also made for a very cute picture. =)

My brother Daniel and his new fiancee (congrats, congrats!!!) Emily were over at our house discussing wedding plans but Sebastian kept stealing the show with his cute little antics. Here he was also talking at the top of his lungs as he tried to eat his toes.

This weekend, Sebastian and Mami sported Mami and Me matching colds. It was miserable. The colds started on Sunday and Sebastian hardly slept on Sunday night so I didn't get much sleep either. This was especially bad because I didn't feel well to begin with. And I was just getting over this nasty 24 or 36 hour stomach virus that had attacked me over the weekend too. So I called in sick to work and we spend the day being sick. My mom came over to help out and made me soup. Thank goodness for moms! Sebastian is better, but still stuffy - hopefully it will only last a couple more days.

Here is some other non-Sebastian related news:

My brother Daniel and his fiancee Emily at a little engagement party that we threw for them over the weekend. Paul said he was glad to welcome another English-speaker to the gang. =)

Cute picture of Sebastian and his Padrino (Godfather).

My mom and brother are getting daschound puppies! They are 6 weeks old brother mini-daschounds and are so cute! My brother's is the red-haired one, Speedy and my mom's is the brown and black one, Pancho. They are too cute!

Paul's cousin Amy in Michigan just had her twins on November 2. She had a boy, Ashton Patrick (6 lbs 1 oz) and a girl Madison Elisabeth (6 lbs 12 oz). That's a lot of baby! We wish them many congratulations and much luck as they went from a family of three to a family of five! We can't wait to meet our new little cousins!

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Happy Halloween!

We've had a busy start to our Fall so far with many different activities. We had a visit to the pumpkin patch, a visit from Great Grandma, Sebastian's first trip to Sea World and Halloween! With so many pictures we figured we'd give this new slideshow a try, so we hope you enjoy!!